PICS : Battle on Red Dirt

With Patrick Mouratoglou on her side, Serena Williams in 2013 was even more impressive than Rafael Nadal on clay. The World No.1 didn’t lose a single match on clay en route to her second ever French Open triumph. What was witnessed 12 months ago was probably the best Serena ever seen on court. As the American failed to sparkle in the first three months of the season, there might be a worry that Serena won’t be as dominant as she was last year on clay. The way Williams won in Miami, beating what are supposed to be her bigger threats on clay, namely Li Na and Maria Sharapova, revealed that Serena only needs to be at the 80 per cent of her form to beat them all. Paris could/should grant her the chance of reaching Navratilova and Evert's with 18 Grand Slam successes.